Sun, Sep 08, 2024 page5

• World News Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  SOUTH KOREA

  N Korea flies more trash

  North Korea has floated hundreds more trash-filled balloons southward, the military said yesterday, the latest salvo in the two countries’ tit-for-tat campaigns of provocation and propaganda. North Korea has launched more than 900 trash balloons over the past three days, including about 190 late on Friday, about 100 of which have already landed, mainly in Seoul and northern Gyeonggi Province, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The bags attached to the balloons contained “mostly paper and plastic waste,” the military said, adding that they posed no safety risk to the public. North Korea has sent nearly 5,000 trash-filled balloons south since May, saying they are retaliation for propaganda balloons launched north by South Korean activists.

  COLUMBIA

  Court calls for hippo hunt

  The Administrative Court of Cundinamarca on Friday called for the hunting of hippos, introduced to the country in the 1980s by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. The court set a three-month deadline for the Ministry of Environment to issue “a regulation that contemplates measures for the eradication of the species,” which is affecting the area’s “ecological balance.” In their homeland in Africa, the animals are responsible for more human deaths than almost any other animal, but in Colombia, the hippopotami have become loved members of the local community and a tourist attraction. They have also been increasingly posing problems for the local community near Escobar’s old ranch in Antioquia Department — one that experts worry might soon turn deadly.

  JAPAN

  Hisahito turns 18

  In a big milestone for the royal family, Prince Hisahito turned 18 on Friday, becoming the first male royal family member to reach adulthood in almost four decades. It is a significant development for a family that has ruled for more than a millennium, but faces the same existential problems as the rest of the nation — a fast-aging, shrinking population. Hisahito, who is set to become emperor one day, is the nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito. His father, Crown Prince Akishino, was the last male to reach adulthood in the family, in 1985. His status as the last heir apparent poses a major problem for a system that does not allow empresses. The government is debating how to keep succession stable without relying on women.

  UNITED STATES

  Animal lovers cause crash

  Two animal lovers who stopped on a US freeway to rescue a stranded kitten caused a three-vehicle crash — and then lost the cat they were trying to help. The couple on Wednesday spotted the stray moggy as they drove east on the CA-91 near Los Angeles, California Highway Patrol Officer Javier Navarro said. After the female driver pulled over, the male passenger jumped out and grabbed the kitty, while traffic was blocked. “Another car comes up behind them and swerves to the left to avoid rear-ending them, clips the left rear of the last car” sending it careering towards the man holding the cat, Navarro said. “The driver of that car swerves right to avoid the pedestrian, and ends up going across all lanes and hitting a semi-truck.” Meanwhile, the man holding the cat hopped the center-divider to get out of the path of the car — dropping the animal in the process. Three vehicles were damaged in the incident, though no one was injured. As for the cat, “he doesn’t get hit, he doesn’t get hurt. He made it across on his own,” Navarro said.
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